Thursday, September 14, 2006

Ambulances

Obviously, when someone gets hurt bad enough to necessitate the use of an ambulance, they should be able to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. There are always going to be times, however, where there is no lane available for the ambulance to go through. In times like this, it is incumbent upon the drivers on the road to do whatever possible to get out of the way, securing a clear path for the ambulance to travel on. I don't think anyone would disagree with these statements.

Commuting 2.5 hours (roundtrip) on a daily basis, I see how many idiots are on the road. One thing that absolutely baffles me on a regular basis is the way people freak out when they see an ambulance coming. Again, if you're in the way, you gotta get out of the way; nobody's questioning that. But if you're not in the way, there's no reason to SLAM on your breaks, from the other side of the highway. I've seen this happening, causing a chain reaction of people slamming on their breaks, due to this one moron's overreaction to the impending ambulance. Ambulance drivers, while trying to get where they need to go as quickly as possible, realize that there are other people around, and wil slow down if necessary. Therefore, we don't need to clear all lanes, on both sides of traffic, for the ambulance

Unncessary freaking out when an ambulance is coming could actually lead to more accidents. Avoiding an ambulance like it's carrying the Ebola virus is excessive What may start out as a person's willingness to help an ambulance may actually necessitate more of them.

5 Comments:

If they have fire hydrants planted throughout the city on street corners so that water is accessible when fires occur, why can't they do the same for ambulances? Have an ambulance permanently parked every couple of blocks in a metrpolitan city. This way, help is always within reach.

Or maybe the ambulance you saw isn't actually going to the scene of an incident, but is predicting exactly what you were explaining in this post. Maybe it's there to take care of the impending accident that you allude to. In this fashion, it's predicting the inevitable, and responding to it in record time. Sure, the ambulance may in some way be connected to the collision occurring, but it's also the hero that saves the day. "I just happened to be walking by when I heard a commotion," it can claim.